KNOXVILLE — Prosecutors have dropped charges against two Tennessee teenagers they labeled as responsible for the state's deadliest wildfire in a century, an attorney confirmed Friday.

Defense attorney Gregory P. Isaacs said the state can't prove that the horseplay of the boys, ages 17 and 15, that sparked a fire in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park caused the deadly wildfires in Gatlinburg, Tenn., five days later.

"My client and the other juvenile, based on the proof and the evidence, did not cause the death and devastation in Gatlinburg," Isaacs said during an afternoon news conference inside his in downtown Knoxville law office.

Isaacs called the case "an unfortunate rush to judgment" on the two teens.

Isaacs, who represents the younger boy, added that state prosecutors didn't have the authority to charge the pair in the first place.

The boys were hiking on the Chimney Tops trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Nov. 23 and tossing lit matches onto the ground around the trail. Brush caught fire. The boys continued hiking down the trail. A fellow hiker with a Go-Pro happened to catch footage of them with smoke in the background. He didn’t know it was important.

Park officials decided to let the fire burn. Five days later, winds of nearly 90 mph whipped up, spreading deadly flames into Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. The emergency response was fretted with flaws, including the failure to warn residents and delayed evacuations. The fire would eventually encompass more than 17,000 acres, or 26.6 square miles, kill 14 people, hurt nearly 200 more and burn more than 2,400 buildings — at the height of Sevier County’s winter tourism season.

"Our firm’s independent investigation revealed (what happened on the Chimney Tops trail) did not cause the Gatlinburg fires beyond a reasonable doubt," Isaacs said. "We want everyone to know that our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the Gatlinburg fire... anyone that lost property or an interruption of business.

"Even though these charges were dismissed ... the identity and location of these two juveniles remains confidential," Isaacs said.

Issacs called his client, who he referred to as John Doe No. 2, a fine man from a fine family.

"A very nice, well-mannered young man, very well-spoken. And his mother is very grateful and very tearful," he said.

Jimmy Dunn, fourth Judicial District attorney general, and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn announced the arrest of the boys in December on charges of aggravated arson, accusing them of setting the fatal wildfire.

In an exclusive story published days after the charges were filed the hiker with the Go-Pro realized in the days after the deadly fires that he may have captured images of the beginning of the Chimney Tops blaze. He alerted authorities. At least one of the boys was wearing an Anderson County High School shirt, the Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel reported.

But Dunn's office couldn't connect the evidentiary dots between the boys' setting of the Chimney Tops fire and the deadly fires five days later, Isaacs said.

If park officials had ordered the Chimney Tops flames doused, there would have been no fire to spread. Even if they hadn’t, no one, including the boys, could be expected to predict rogue, freakishly furious winds five days later. It’s known as “intervening causes” under the law and makes it all but impossible to prove the boys intended or even knew death would result from their match flicking, Isaacs said.

The only thing the boys could be prosecuted for was setting a fire in the park.

Isaacs said Dunn and Gwyn had not jurisdiction over crimes committed in the park.

The federal government owns national parks, and only federal officials have authority to prosecute crimes committed on federal land. In 1997, the director of the National Park Service and then-Gov. Don Sundquist reached an agreement giving local and state authorities the legal right to also prosecute cases within federal lands in Tennessee.

The News Sentinel obtained documents showing the 1997 agreement left out the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Five years later, someone took that agreement, added the park and filed it with the Secretary of State. But whoever made that change did not get approval or otherwise notify the National Park Service or the Tennessee governor’s office. Without that approval and new signatures, the agreement adding the park and filed in 2002 is not legally valid.

That means only the U.S. Attorney’s Office could prosecute the boys in the Chimney Tops fire.

A review of the evidence in this case will have to take place in order to determine whether it is appropriate to seek approval from the attorney general to prosecute juvenile offenders in federal court.

"It's time to move in this chapter of the Gatlinburg fires," Isaac said at the conclusion of Friday's news conference.

Patricia Oyuela, left, is comforted by Ed Berkley, as they describe their evacuations from Gatlinburg during the fire on Monday evening. Both are staying at the Pigeon Forge hotel Arbors at Island Landing, free of charge, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2016. AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENT

The wildfire-scarred Chimney Tops is pictured Dec. 2, 2016, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Officials say the fire that has killed 14 people and destroyed more than 2,400 structures started here on Nov. 23. Paul Efird/News Sentinel

U.S. Forest Service firefighters Cash Jessop, left, and Brandon Allen extinguish a pocket of fire Friday, Dec. 2, 2016, in the Twin Creeks area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Paul Efird/News Sentinel

Traveling chaplain Roger Piggott center, prays with some residents outside the Rocky Top Sports World on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016. Piggott traveled from North Carolina to minister to those effected by the wild fires in Gatlinburg. Michael Patrick/News Sentinel

Richard T. Ramsey and Sue Ramsey hold hands while looking at the skyline from the remains of their house of 41 years, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016, in Gatlinburg, Tenn. They safely evacuated from their home as fire approached Monday evening. Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean

Resident Blanca Paz-Mejia returned to check on her apartment which was a total loss along Cherokee Orchard Rd. in the city of Gatlinburg after wildfires in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tenn. earlier in the week, Friday, Dec. 2, 2016. AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENT

Chris & Trina Rial look over to where a neighbor died as they retrieved some of their belongings from their room at Travelers on US321 in Gatlinburg on Friday, Dec. 2, 2016 following the devastating fires on Monday night. Michael Patrick/News Sentinel

The home known to visitors as The Castle from downtown Gatlinburg on Friday, Dec. 2, 2016 after residents were allowed back in following the devastating fires on Monday night. Michael Patrick/News Sentinel

Roaring Fork Baptist Church congregants raise their hands together in praise during a Sunday morning service at Camp Smoky in Sevierville on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016. Roaring Fork Baptist Church was destroyed in the fire that swept through Gatlinburg on Monday night. BRIANNA PACIORKA/NEWS SENTINEL

National Park Service firefighter Jeff Singer, from the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, hikes up the Rainbow Falls Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Gatlinburg, Tenn., Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016. Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean

U.S. Forest Service firefighter Chad Heck, from the Colville National Forest in Washington state, hikes up the Rainbow Falls Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Gatlinburg, Tenn., Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016. Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean

Lelin Romero feeds her three-month-old son Ethan, in the family's van as they visit the remains of their home for the first time, Monday, Dec. 5, 2016, in Gatlinburg, Tenn. The family evacuated from their rental cabin before it was completely destroyed in last Monday's fires. Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean

Allan Rivera holds onto his son Nathan, 23 months, as he looks at the remains of their home for the first time, Monday, Dec. 5, 2016, in Gatlinburg, Tenn. The family evacuated from their rental cabin before it was completely destroyed in last Monday’s fires. Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean

Glenn Stocks digs through the rubble of his family's bed and breakfast, Tudor Inn, on Dec. 8, 2016, on West Holly Ridge Road in Gatlinburg. The home was destroyed in the November wildfires. CAITIE MCMEKIN / NEWS SENTINEL

Lauren Sims, 7, and her brother Ethan, 5, of Lake City, S.C. stand with their mother Christina looking over Gatlinburg from the space Needle Friday Dec. 9, 2016. Gatlinburg re-opened to the public today after wildfires damaged the city early last week. CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL

Gatlinburg is visible from the Space Needle Friday Dec. 9, 2016. Gatlinburg re-opened to the public today after wildfires damaged the city early last week. Damaged structures are visible on the mountain. CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL

Members of one of the Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief Team chainsaw crews pray together before they start working at a home during the wildfire cleanup efforts in Gatlinburg Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016. Michael Patrick/News Sentinel

The Gatlinburg home of David Loveland, which was spared from the wildfire Wednesday, December 14, 2016. Loveland has spent 10 years fireproofing his home. Twenty homes in his Gatlinburg neighborhood burned to the ground.
AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL

The chimney of a cabin is pictured the Sugarlands Valley Nature Trail on Monday, Dec. 19, 2016, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The cabin remnants along the trail are from the 1920s and were judged not old enough to merit saving for historic value. The valley here once held more than 200 residences including small farms with apple orchids and planted fields, according to Brad Free, a Park Service ranger. Paul Efird/News Sentinel

The Chimney Tops trail is closed due to wildfire damage on Monday, Dec. 19, 2016, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Chimney Tops was the starting point of a wildfire on Nov. 23 that eventually raced through 17,000 acres, killed 14 people, and damaged or destroyed more than 2,400 structures.
Paul Efird, Paul Efird/News Sentinel

Destroyed structures are pictured along Cherokee Orchard Road on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016, in Gatlinburg. The wildfires killed 12 people. One more died of a heart attack and another in a vehicle accident fleeing the blaze. A total of 191 were treated for injuries suffered. More than 2,460 structures were damaged or destroyed. Paul Efird/News Sentinel

Gatlinburg Mayor Mike Werner stands among the ruins of his home of more than 20 years atop Greystone Heights Road on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016, in downtown Gatlinburg. Amy Smotherman Burgess / News Sentinel

The ruins of the home of Gatlinburg mayor Mike Werner, where he and his family lived for over twenty years, atop Greystone Heights Road in downtown Gatlinburg Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016. AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL